Marxism has devewoped into many different branches and schoows of dought, dough now dere is no singwe definitive Marxist deory.[1] Different Marxian schoows pwace a greater emphasis on certain aspects of cwassicaw Marxism whiwe rejecting or modifying oder aspects. Many schoows of dought have sought to combine Marxian concepts and non-Marxian concepts, which has den wed to contradictory concwusions.[2] However, watewy dere is movement toward de recognition dat historicaw materiawism and diawecticaw materiawism remains de fundamentaw aspect of aww Marxist schoows of dought,[3] which shouwd resuwt in more agreement between different schoows.

Etymowogy

The term "Marxism" was popuwarized by Karw Kautsky, who considered himsewf an "ordodox" Marxist during de dispute between de ordodox and revisionist fowwowers of Marx.[7] Kautsky's revisionist rivaw Eduard Bernstein awso water adopted use of de term.[7] Engews did not support de use of de term "Marxism" to describe eider Marx's or his views.[8] Engews cwaimed dat de term was being abusivewy used as a rhetoricaw qwawifier by dose attempting to cast demsewves as "reaw" fowwowers of Marx whiwe casting oders in different terms, such as "Lassawwians".[8] In 1882, Engews cwaimed dat Marx had criticized sewf-procwaimed "Marxist" Pauw Lafargue, by saying dat if Lafargue's views were considered "Marxist", den "one ding is certain and dat is dat I am not a Marxist".[8]

Overview

Marxism anawyzes de materiaw conditions and de economic activities reqwired to fuwfiww human materiaw needs to expwain sociaw phenomena widin any given society.

It assumes dat de form of economic organization, or mode of production, infwuences aww oder sociaw phenomena—incwuding sociaw rewations, powiticaw institutions, wegaw systems, cuwturaw systems, aesdetics, and ideowogies. The economic system and dese sociaw rewations form a base and superstructure.

As forces of production, i.e. technowogy, improve, existing forms of sociaw organization become obsowete and hinder furder progress. As Karw Marx observed: "At a certain stage of devewopment, de materiaw productive forces of society come into confwict wif de existing rewations of production or—dis merewy expresses de same ding in wegaw terms—wif de property rewations widin de framework of which dey have operated hiderto. From forms of devewopment of de productive forces dese rewations turn into deir fetters. Then begins an era of sociaw revowution".[9] These inefficiencies manifest demsewves as sociaw contradictions in society in de form of cwass struggwe.[10]

Marxian economics and its proponents view capitawism as economicawwy unsustainabwe and incapabwe of improving de wiving standards of de popuwation due to its need to compensate for fawwing rates of profit by cutting empwoyee's wages, sociaw benefits and pursuing miwitary aggression, uh-hah-hah-hah. The sociawist system wouwd succeed capitawism as humanity's mode of production drough workers' revowution. According to Marxian crisis deory, sociawism is not an inevitabiwity, but an economic necessity.[11]

In a sociawist society, private property—in de form of de means of production—wouwd be repwaced by co-operative ownership. A sociawist economy wouwd not base production on de creation of private profits, but on de criteria of satisfying human needs—dat is, production wouwd be carried out directwy for use. As Friedrich Engews said: "Then de capitawist mode of appropriation in which de product enswaves first de producer, and den appropriator, is repwaced by de mode of appropriation of de product dat is based upon de nature of de modern means of production; upon de one hand, direct sociaw appropriation, as means to de maintenance and extension of production on de oder, direct individuaw appropriation, as means of subsistence and of enjoyment".[12]

The discovery of de materiawist conception of history, or rader, de consistent continuation and extension of materiawism into de domain of sociaw phenomenon, removed two chief defects of earwier historicaw deories. In de first pwace, dey at best examined onwy de ideowogicaw motives of de historicaw activity of human beings, widout grasping de objective waws governing de devewopment of de system of sociaw rewations ... in de second pwace, de earwier deories did not cover de activities of de masses of de popuwation, whereas historicaw materiawism made it possibwe for de first time to study wif de accuracy of de naturaw sciences de sociaw conditions of de wife of de masses and de changes in dese conditions.

The materiawist deory of history[15] anawyses de underwying causes of societaw devewopment and change from de perspective of de cowwective ways dat humans make deir wiving. Aww constituent features of a society (sociaw cwasses, powiticaw pyramid, ideowogies) are assumed to stem from economic activity, an idea often portrayed wif de metaphor of de base and superstructure.

The base and superstructure metaphor describes de totawity of sociaw rewations by which humans produce and re-produce deir sociaw existence. According to Marx: "The sum totaw of de forces of production accessibwe to men determines de condition of society" and forms a society's economic base. The base incwudes de materiaw forces of production, dat is de wabour and materiaw means of production and rewations of production, i.e., de sociaw and powiticaw arrangements dat reguwate production and distribution, uh-hah-hah-hah. From dis base rises a superstructure of wegaw and powiticaw "forms of sociaw consciousness" of powiticaw and wegaw institutions dat derive from de economic base dat conditions de superstructure and a society's dominant ideowogy. Confwicts between de devewopment of materiaw productive forces and de rewations of production provokes sociaw revowutions and dus de resuwtant changes to de economic base wiww wead to de transformation of de superstructure.[16] This rewationship is refwexive, as at first de base gives rise to de superstructure and remains de foundation of a form of sociaw organization, hence dat formed sociaw organization can act again upon bof parts of de base and superstructure so dat de rewationship is not static but a diawectic, expressed and driven by confwicts and contradictions. As Engews cwarified: "The history of aww hiderto existing society is de history of cwass struggwes. Freeman and swave, patrician and pwebeian, word and serf, guiwd-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one anoder, carried on uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight dat each time ended, eider in a revowutionary reconstitution of society at warge, or in de common ruin of de contending cwasses".[17]

Marx considered cwass confwicts as de driving force of human history since dese recurring confwicts have manifested demsewves as distinct transitionaw stages of devewopment in Western Europe. Accordingwy, Marx designated human history as encompassing four stages of devewopment in rewations of production:[18]

Criticism of capitawism

According to de Marxist deoretician and revowutionaryVwadimir Lenin, "de principaw content of Marxism" was "Marx's economic doctrine".[19] Marx bewieved dat de capitawist bourgeois and deir economists were promoting what he saw as de wie dat "de interests of de capitawist and of de worker are ... one and de same", derefore he bewieved dat dey did dis by purporting de concept dat "de fastest possibwe growf of productive capitaw" was best not onwy for de weawdy capitawists but awso for de workers because it provided dem wif empwoyment.[20]

Expwoitation is a matter of surpwus wabour—de amount of wabour one performs beyond what one receives in goods. Expwoitation has been a socioeconomic feature of every cwass society and is one of de principaw features distinguishing de sociaw cwasses. The power of one sociaw cwass to controw de means of production enabwes its expwoitation of de oder cwasses.

In capitawism, de wabour deory of vawue is de operative concern; de vawue of a commodity eqwaws de sociawwy necessary wabour time reqwired to produce it. Under dat condition, surpwus vawue (de difference between de vawue produced and de vawue received by a wabourer) is synonymous wif de term "surpwus wabour", dus capitawist expwoitation is reawised as deriving surpwus vawue from de worker.

In pre-capitawist economies, expwoitation of de worker was achieved via physicaw coercion, uh-hah-hah-hah. In de capitawist mode of production, dat resuwt is more subtwy achieved and because workers do not own de means of production, dey must vowuntariwy enter into an expwoitive work rewationship wif a capitawist in order to earn de necessities of wife. The worker's entry into such empwoyment is vowuntary in dat dey choose which capitawist to work for. However, de worker must work or starve, dus expwoitation is inevitabwe and de "vowuntary" nature of a worker participating in a capitawist society is iwwusory.

Awienation is de estrangement of peopwe from deir humanity (German:Gattungswesen, "species-essence", "species-being"), which is a systematic resuwt of capitawism. Under capitawism, de fruits of production bewong to de empwoyers, who expropriate de surpwus created by oders and so generate awienated wabourers.[21] In Marx's view, awienation is an objective characterization of de worker's situation in capitawism—his or her sewf-awareness of dis condition is not prereqwisite.

Prowetariat: "[...] de cwass of modern wage wabourers who, having no means of production of deir own, are reduced to sewwing deir wabour power in order to wive."[22] The capitawist mode of production estabwishes de conditions enabwing de bourgeoisie to expwoit de prowetariat because de workers' wabour generates a surpwus vawue greater dan de workers' wages.

Bourgeoisie: dose who "own de means of production" and buy wabour power from de prowetariat, dus expwoiting de prowetariat. They subdivide as bourgeoisie and de petite bourgeoisie.

Petite bourgeoisie are dose who work and can afford to buy wittwe wabour power i.e. smaww business owners, peasant wandwords, trade workers and de wike. Marxism predicts dat de continuaw reinvention of de means of production eventuawwy wouwd destroy de petite bourgeoisie, degrading dem from de middwe cwass to de prowetariat.

Lumpenprowetariat: de outcasts of society such as de criminaws, vagabonds, beggars, or prostitutes widout any powiticaw or cwass consciousness. Having no interest in internationaw or nationaw economics affairs, Marx cwaimed dat dis specific sub-division of de prowetariat wouwd pway no part in de eventuaw sociaw revowution, uh-hah-hah-hah.

Landwords: a historicawwy important sociaw cwass who retain some weawf and power.

Peasantry and farmers: a scattered cwass incapabwe of organizing and effecting socio-economic change, most of whom wouwd enter de prowetariat whiwe some wouwd become wandwords.

Cwass consciousness denotes de awareness—of itsewf and de sociaw worwd—dat a sociaw cwass possesses and its capacity to rationawwy act in deir best interests, hence cwass consciousness is reqwired before dey can effect a successfuw revowution and dus de dictatorship of de prowetariat.

Widout defining ideowogy,[23] Marx used de term to describe de production of images of sociaw reawity. According to Engews, "ideowogy is a process accompwished by de so-cawwed dinker consciouswy, it is true, but wif a fawse consciousness. The reaw motive forces impewwing him remain unknown to him; oderwise it simpwy wouwd not be an ideowogicaw process. Hence he imagines fawse or seeming motive forces".[24] Because de ruwing cwass controws de society's means of production, de superstructure of society (de ruwing sociaw ideas), are determined by de best interests of de ruwing cwass. In The German Ideowogy, he says "[t]he ideas of de ruwing cwass are in every epoch de ruwing ideas, i.e., de cwass which is de ruwing materiaw force of society, is, at de same time, its ruwing intewwectuaw force."[25]

The term "powiticaw economy" initiawwy referred to de study of de materiaw conditions of economic production in de capitawist system. In Marxism, powiticaw economy is de study of de means of production, specificawwy of capitaw and how dat manifests as economic activity.

Marxism taught me what society was. I was wike a bwindfowded man in a forest, who doesn't even know where norf or souf is. If you don't eventuawwy come to truwy understand de history of de cwass struggwe, or at weast have a cwear idea dat society is divided between de rich and de poor, and dat some peopwe subjugate and expwoit oder peopwe, you're wost in a forest, not knowing anyding.

This new way of dinking was invented because sociawists bewieved dat common ownership of de "means of production" (dat is de industries, de wand, de weawf of nature, de trade apparatus, de weawf of de society, etc.) wiww abowish de expwoitative working conditions experienced under capitawism. Through working cwass revowution, de state (which Marxists see as a weapon for de subjugation of one cwass by anoder) is seized and used to suppress de hiderto ruwing cwass of capitawists and by impwementing a commonwy-owned, democraticawwy controwwed workpwace create de society of communism, which Marxists see as true democracy. An economy based on co-operation on human need and sociaw betterment, rader dan competition for profit of many independentwy acting profit seekers, wouwd awso be de end of cwass society, which Marx saw as de fundamentaw division of aww hiderto existing history.

Marx saw work, de effort by humans to transform de environment for deir needs, as a fundamentaw feature of human kind. Capitawism, in which de product of de worker's wabor is taken from dem and sowd at market rader dan being part of de worker's wife, is derefore awienating to de worker. Additionawwy, de worker is compewwed by various means (some nicer dan oders) to work harder, faster and for wonger hours. Whiwe dis is happening, de empwoyer is constantwy trying to save on wabor costs: pay de workers wess, figure out how to use cheaper eqwipment, etc. This awwows de empwoyer to extract de wargest mount of work (and derefore potentiaw weawf) from deir workers. The fundamentaw nature of capitawist society is no different from dat of swave society: one smaww group of society expwoiting de warger group.

Revowution, sociawism and communism

According to ordodox Marxist deory, de overdrow of capitawism by a sociawist revowution in contemporary society is inevitabwe. Whiwe de inevitabiwity of an eventuaw sociawist revowution is a controversiaw debate among many different Marxist schoows of dought, aww Marxists bewieve sociawism is a necessity, if not inevitabwe. Marxists bewieve dat a sociawist society is far better for de majority of de popuwace dan its capitawist counterpart. Prior to de Russian revowution of 1917, Lenin wrote: "The sociawization of production is bound to wead to de conversion of de means of production into de property of society ... This conversion wiww directwy resuwt in an immense increase in productivity of wabour, a reduction of working hours, and de repwacement of de remnants, de ruins of smaww-scawe, primitive, disunited production by cowwective and improved wabour".[30] The faiwure of de 1905 revowution and de faiwure of sociawist movements to resist de outbreak of Worwd War One wed to renewed deoreticaw effort and vawuabwe contributions from Lenin and Rosa Luxemburg towards an appreciation of Marx's crisis deory and efforts to formuwate a deory of imperiawism.[31]

"There are few dinkers in modern history whose dought has been so badwy misrepresented, by Marxists and anti-Marxists awike".[34]

On de oder hand, de book Communism: The Great Misunderstanding argues dat de source of such misrepresentations wies in ignoring de phiwosophy of Marxism, which is diawecticaw materiawism. In warge, dis was due to de fact dat The German Ideowogy, in which Marx and Engews devewoped dis phiwosophy, did not find a pubwisher for awmost one hundred years.

One of de 20f century's most prominent Marxist academics, de Austrawian archaeowogist V. Gordon Chiwde

Marxism has been adopted by a warge number of academics and oder schowars working in various discipwines.

The deoreticaw devewopment of Marxist archaeowogy was first devewoped in de Soviet Union in 1929, when a young archaeowogist named Vwadiswav I. Ravdonikas (1894–1976) pubwished a report entitwed "For a Soviet history of materiaw cuwture". Widin dis work, de very discipwine of archaeowogy as it den stood was criticised as being inherentwy bourgeois, derefore anti-sociawist and so, as a part of de academic reforms instituted in de Soviet Union under de administration of Premier Joseph Stawin, a great emphasis was pwaced on de adoption of Marxist archaeowogy droughout de country.[35] These deoreticaw devewopments were subseqwentwy adopted by archaeowogists working in capitawist states outside of de Leninist bwoc, most notabwy by de Austrawian academic V. Gordon Chiwde (1892–1957), who used Marxist deory in his understandings of de devewopment of human society.[36]

According to a 2007 survey of American professors by Neiw Gross and Sowon Simmons, 17.6% of sociaw science professors and 5.0% of humanities professors identify as Marxists, whiwe between 0 and 2% of professors in aww oder discipwines identify as Marxists.[42]

Friedrich Engews (28 November 1820 – 5 August 1895) was a German powiticaw phiwosopher who togeder wif Marx co-devewoped communist deory. Marx and Engews first met in September 1844. Discovering dat dey had simiwar views of phiwosophy and sociawism, dey cowwaborated and wrote works such as Die heiwige Famiwie (The Howy Famiwy). After Marx was deported from France in January 1845, dey moved to Bewgium, which den permitted greater freedom of expression dan oder European countries. In January 1846, dey returned to Brussews to estabwish de Communist Correspondence Committee.

In 1847, dey began writing The Communist Manifesto (1848), based on Engews' The Principwes of Communism. Six weeks water, dey pubwished de 12,000-word pamphwet in February 1848. In March, Bewgium expewwed dem and dey moved to Cowogne, where dey pubwished de Neue Rheinische Zeitung, a powiticawwy radicaw newspaper. By 1849, dey had to weave Cowogne for London, uh-hah-hah-hah. The Prussian audorities pressured de British government to expew Marx and Engews, but Prime Minister Lord John Russeww refused.

In 1959, de Cuban Revowution wed to de victory of Fidew Castro and his Juwy 26 Movement. Awdough de revowution was not expwicitwy sociawist, upon victory Castro ascended to de position of Prime Minister and adopted de Leninist modew of sociawist devewopment, forging an awwiance wif de Soviet Union, uh-hah-hah-hah.[44] One of de weaders of de revowution, de Argentine Marxist revowutionary Che Guevara (1928–1967), subseqwentwy went on to aid revowutionary sociawist movements in Congo-Kinshasa and Bowivia, eventuawwy being kiwwed by de Bowivian government, possibwy on de orders of de Centraw Intewwigence Agency (CIA), dough de CIA agent sent to search for Guevara, Fewix Rodriguez, expressed a desire to keep him awive as a possibwe bargaining toow wif de Cuban government. He wouwd posdumouswy go on to become an internationawwy recognised icon, uh-hah-hah-hah.

In de Peopwe's Repubwic of China, de Maoist government undertook de Cuwturaw Revowution from 1966 drough to 1976 to amewiorate capitawist ewements of Chinese society and achieve sociawism. However, upon Mao Zedong's deaf, his rivaws seized powiticaw power and under de Premiership of Deng Xiaoping (1978–1992), many of Mao's Cuwturaw Revowution era powicies were revised or abandoned and much of de state sector privatised.

The wate 1980s and earwy 1990s saw de cowwapse of most of dose sociawist states dat had professed a Marxist–Leninist ideowogy. In de wate 1970s and earwy 1980s, de emergence of de New Right and neowiberaw capitawism as de dominant ideowogicaw trends in western powitics—championed by U.S. President Ronawd Reagan and U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher—wed de west to take a more aggressive stand against de Soviet Union and its Leninist awwies. Meanwhiwe, in de Soviet Union de reformist Mikhaew Gorbachev became Premier in March 1985 and sought to abandon Leninist modews of devewopment towards sociaw democracy. Uwtimatewy, Gorbachev's reforms, coupwed wif rising wevews of popuwar ednic nationawism in de Soviet Union, wed to de state's dissowution in wate 1991 into a series of constituent nations, aww of which abandoned Marxist–Leninist modews for sociawism, wif most converting to capitawist economies.

21st century

At de turn of de 21st century, China, Cuba, Laos, Norf Korea and Vietnam remained de onwy officiawwy Marxist–Leninist states remaining, awdough a Maoist government wed by Prachanda was ewected into power in Nepaw in 2008 fowwowing a wong guerriwwa struggwe.

The earwy 21st century awso saw de ewection of sociawist governments in severaw Latin American nations, in what has come to be known as de "pink tide". Dominated by de Venezuewan government of Hugo Chávez, dis trend awso saw de ewection of Evo Morawes in Bowivia, Rafaew Correa in Ecuador and Daniew Ortega in Nicaragua. Forging powiticaw and economic awwiances drough internationaw organisations wike de Bowivarian Awwiance for de Americas, dese sociawist governments awwied demsewves wif Marxist–Leninist Cuba and awdough none of dem espoused a Leninist paf directwy, most admitted to being significantwy infwuenced by Marxist deory.

For Itawian Marxist Gianni Vattimo in his 2011 book Hermeneutic Communism, "dis new weak communism differs substantiawwy from its previous Soviet (and current Chinese) reawization, because de Souf American countries fowwow democratic ewectoraw procedures and awso manage to decentrawize de state bureaucratic system drough de Bowivarian missions. In sum, if weakened communism is fewt as a specter in de West, it is not onwy because of media distortions but awso for de awternative it represents drough de same democratic procedures dat de West constantwy professes to cherish but is hesitant to appwy".[45]

Chinese PresidentXi Jinping has announced a deepening commitment of de Chinese Communist Party to de ideas of Marx. At an event cewebrating de 200f anniversary of Marx's birf, Xi said “We must win de advantages, win de initiative, and win de future. We must continuouswy improve de abiwity to use Marxism to anawyse and sowve practicaw probwems...” awso adding “powerfuw ideowogicaw weapon for us to understand de worwd, grasp de waw, seek de truf, and change de worwd,”. Xi has furder stressed de importance of examining and continuing de tradition of de CPC and embrace its revowutionary past.[46][47][48]

Criticism

Criticisms of Marxism have come from various powiticaw ideowogies and academic discipwines. These incwude generaw criticisms about wack of internaw consistency, criticisms rewated to historicaw materiawism, dat it is a type of historicaw determinism, de necessity of suppression of individuaw rights, issues wif de impwementation of communism and economic issues such as de distortion or absence of price signaws and reduced incentives. In addition, empiricaw and epistemowogicaw probwems are freqwentwy identified.[49][50][51]

Some Marxists have criticised de academic institutionawisation of Marxism for being too shawwow and detached from powiticaw action, uh-hah-hah-hah. For instance, Zimbabwean TrotskyistAwex Cawwinicos, himsewf a professionaw academic, stated: "Its practitioners remind one of Narcissus, who in de Greek wegend feww in wove wif his own refwection ... Sometimes it is necessary to devote time to cwarifying and devewoping de concepts dat we use, but indeed for Western Marxists dis has become an end in itsewf. The resuwt is a body of writings incomprehensibwe to aww but a tiny minority of highwy qwawified schowars".[52]

Additionawwy, dere are intewwectuaw critiqwes of Marxism dat contest certain assumptions prevawent in Marx's dought and Marxism after him, widout exactwy rejecting Marxist powitics.[53] Oder contemporary supporters of Marxism argue dat many aspects of Marxist dought are viabwe, but dat de corpus is incompwete or outdated in regards to certain aspects of economic, powiticaw or sociaw deory. They may derefore combine some Marxist concepts wif de ideas of oder deorists such as Max Weber—de Frankfurt Schoow is one exampwe.[54][55]

Generaw criticisms

Phiwosopher and historian of ideas Leszek Kołakowski pointed out dat "Marx's deory is incompwete or ambiguous in many pwaces, and couwd be 'appwied' in many contradictory ways widout manifestwy infringing its principwes". Specificawwy, he considers "de waws of diawectics" as fundamentawwy erroneous, stating dat some are "truisms wif no specific Marxist content", oders "phiwosophicaw dogmas dat cannot be proved by scientific means" and some just "nonsense". He bewieves dat some Marxist waws can be interpreted differentwy, but dat dese interpretations stiww in generaw faww into one of de two categories of error.[56]

Okishio's deorem shows dat if capitawists use cost-cutting techniqwes and reaw wages do not increase, de rate of profit must rise, which casts doubt on Marx's view dat de rate of profit wouwd tend to faww.[57]

The awwegations of inconsistency have been a warge part of Marxian economics and de debates around it since de 1970s.[58]Andrew Kwiman argues dat dis undermines Marx's critiqwes and de correction of de awweged inconsistencies, because internawwy inconsistent deories cannot be right by definition, uh-hah-hah-hah.[59]

Epistemowogicaw and empiricaw critiqwes

Marx's predictions have been criticized because dey have awwegedwy faiwed, wif some pointing towards de GDP per capita increasing generawwy in capitawist economies compared to wess market oriented economics, de capitawist economies not suffering worsening economic crises weading to de overdrow of de capitawist system and communist revowutions not occurring in de most advanced capitawist nations, but instead in undevewoped regions.[60][61]

Anarchist and wibertarian critiqwes

Anarchism has had a strained rewationship wif Marxism since Marx's wife. Anarchists and many non-Marxist wibertarian sociawists reject de need for a transitory state phase, cwaiming dat sociawism can onwy be estabwished drough decentrawized, non-coercive organization, uh-hah-hah-hah. Anarchist Mikhaiw Bakunin criticized Marx for his audoritarian bent.[64] The phrases "barracks sociawism" or "barracks communism" became a shordand for dis critiqwe, evoking de image of citizens' wives being as regimented as de wives of conscripts in a barracks.[65]Noam Chomsky is criticaw of Marxism's dogmatic strains and de idea of Marxism itsewf, but stiww appreciates Marx's contributions to powiticaw dought. Unwike some anarchists, Chomsky does not consider Bowshevism "Marxism in practice", but he does recognize dat Marx was a compwicated figure who had confwicting ideas, whiwe he awso acknowwedges de watent audoritarianism in Marx he awso points to de wibertarian strains dat devewoped into de counciw communism of Rosa Luxemburg and Anton Pannekoek. However, his commitment to wibertarian sociawism has wed him to characterize himsewf as an anarchist wif radicaw Marxist weanings (see powiticaw positions of Noam Chomsky).

Economic critiqwes

Oder critiqwes come from an economic standpoint. Vwadimir Karpovich Dmitriev writing in 1898,[70]Ladiswaus von Bortkiewicz writing in 1906–1907[71] and subseqwent critics have awweged dat Marx's vawue deory and waw of de tendency of de rate of profit to faww are internawwy inconsistent. In oder words, de critics awwege dat Marx drew concwusions dat actuawwy do not fowwow from his deoreticaw premises. Once dese awweged errors are corrected, his concwusion dat aggregate price and profit are determined by and eqwaw to aggregate vawue and surpwus vawue no wonger howds true. This resuwt cawws into qwestion his deory dat de expwoitation of workers is de sowe source of profit.[72]

Bof Marxism and sociawism have received considerabwe criticaw anawysis from muwtipwe generations of Austrian economists in terms of scientific medodowogy, economic deory and powiticaw impwications.[73][74] During de marginaw revowution, subjective vawue deory was rediscovered by Carw Menger, a devewopment dat fundamentawwy undermined de British cost deories of vawue. The restoration of subjectivism and praxeowogicaw medodowogy previouswy used by cwassicaw economists incwuding Richard Cantiwwon, Anne-Robert-Jacqwes Turgot, Jean-Baptiste Say and Frédéric Bastiat wed Menger to criticise historicist medodowogy in generaw. Second-generation Austrian economist Eugen Böhm von Bawerk used praxeowogicaw and subjectivist medodowogy to attack de waw of vawue fundamentawwy. Non-Marxist economists have regarded his criticism as definitive, wif Gottfried Haberwer arguing dat Böhm-Bawerk's critiqwe of Marx's economics was so dorough and devastating dat as of de 1960s no Marxian schowar had concwusivewy refuted it.[75] Third-generation Austrian Ludwig von Mises rekindwed debate about de economic cawcuwation probwem by identifying dat widout price signaws in capitaw goods, aww oder aspects of de market economy are irrationaw. This wed him to decware dat "rationaw economic activity is impossibwe in a sociawist commonweawf".[76]

Daron Acemogwu and James A. Robinson argue dat Marx's economic deory was fundamentawwy fwawed because it attempted to simpwify de economy into a few generaw waws dat ignored de impact of institutions on de economy.[77]

References

Footnotes

^Wowff and Resnick, Richard and Stephen (August 1987). Economics: Marxian versus Neocwassicaw. The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 130. ISBN978-0-8018-3480-6. The German Marxists extended de deory to groups and issues Marx had barewy touched. Marxian anawyses of de wegaw system, of de sociaw rowe of women, of foreign trade, of internationaw rivawries among capitawist nations, and de rowe of parwiamentary democracy in de transition to sociawism drew animated debates ... Marxian deory (singuwar) gave way to Marxian deories (pwuraw).

^Marx does not cwaim to have produced a master-key to history as historicaw materiawism is not "an historico-phiwosophic deory of de marche generawe, imposed by fate upon every peopwe, whatever de historic circumstances in which it finds itsewf". Letter to editor of de Russian newspaper paper Otetchestvennye Zapiskym (1877). He expwains dat his ideas are based upon a concrete study of de actuaw conditions in Europe.

^"Accusing Guesde and Lafargue of 'revowutionary phrase-mongering' and of denying de vawue of reformist struggwes, Marx made his famous remark dat, if deir powitics represented Marxism, 'ce qw'iw y a de certain c'est qwe moi, je ne suis pas Marxiste' ('what is certain is dat I mysewf am not a Marxist')". See "Programme of de French Worker's Party".

^Haww, Stuart; Dave Morewy; Kuan-Hsing Chen (1996). Stuart Haww: Criticaw Diawogues in Cuwturaw Studies. London: Routwedge. p. 418. ISBN978-0-415-08803-9. Retrieved 4 March 2013. I have no hesitation in saying dat dis represents a gigantic crudification and simpwification of Marx's work – de kind of simpwification and reductionism which once wed him, in despair, to say "if dat is marxism, den I am not a marxist"

^Kwiman states dat "Marx’s vawue deory wouwd be necessariwy wrong if it were internawwy inconsistent. Internawwy inconsistent deories may be appeawing, intuitivewy pwausibwe and even obvious, and consistent wif aww avaiwabwe empiricaw evidence––but dey cannot be right. It is necessary to reject dem or correct dem. Thus de awweged proofs of inconsistency trump aww oder considerations, disqwawifying Marx’s deory at de starting gate. By doing so, dey provide de principaw justification for de suppression of dis deory as weww as de suppression of, and de deniaw of resources needed to carry out, present-day research based upon it. This greatwy inhibits its furder devewopment. So does de very charge of inconsistency. What person of intewwectuaw integrity wouwd want to join a research program founded on (what he bewieves to be) a deory dat is internawwy inconsistent and derefore fawse?" (Andrew Kwiman, Recwaiming Marx's "Capitaw": A Refutation of de Myf of Inconsistency, Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2007, p. 3, emphasis in originaw). However, in his book, Kwiman presents an interpretation where dese inconsistencies can be ewiminated. The connection between de inconsistency awwegations and de wack of study of Marx’s deories was argued furder by John Cassidy ("The Return of Karw Marx," The New Yorker, Oct. 20 & 27, 1997, p. 252): "His madematicaw modew of de economy, which depended on de idea dat wabor is de source of aww vawue, was riven wif internaw inconsistencies and is rarewy studied dese days."